Death by Muse
by Evelyn Dawn
Summary: Each of the Skulduggery Pleasant characters get killed off...but by who?
1. Plug in Baby

_**Hey guys alright this is my first fanfiction story and I'm co-writing it with my friend Reia Kellyn :D xx**_

_**Alright so we thought up this story in our English class-thank you Mr Welch and Young ;) We're gonna be killing off a Skulduggery Pleasant character in each chapter to the title of a Muse song, being as :L It should have a plot, eventually...**_

China sighed as she kicked the last person out of her library. ''Open hours are over, peasant!'' she yelled, slamming the door. She floated to her apartment and slipped into a silk nightgown, sitting gracefully down onto a sofa. She had just settled down to her current book - an interesting biopic named Scapegrace Pleasant: Retarded Zombie King. After reading a few chapters she stretched, yawned delicately and made to put the lights out. Something flickered at the corner of her vision and she spun round, symbols already fading up on her palms. She advanced through the room, peering cautiously ahead. ''If this is Ghastly trying to steal my shoes again I will personally kill him,'' she hissed.

China tapped her foot against the floor twice and a blue glow filled the dark room that was only illuminated by the glow of moonlight. The search revealed nothing and she narrowed her eyes. Something was playing with her. She strode over to her lamp and plugged the switch in. If she had been watching more closely, she would have seen another wire sneaking away from the lamp base. If she had been watching more closely, she would have seen the one thing that had truly threatened her in all her years of existence.

But it was too late.

Maybe China noticed it a fraction of a second before she flicked the switch. Maybe that was why her eyes widened slightly as the lamp flickered briefly then the ball of light expanded, blowing out from the lamp and striking her. She was thrown back by the strike, hitting the floor heavily. Her hand was burnt black from the overloaded charge of electricity that had gone right through her, stopping her heart and pulse.

A shadow moved over the woman, who had lost none of her beauty in death. It observed her slowly, silently, before turning and leaving.

_**Please review, really want to know what you thought. We'll be writting the next chapter soon. Hope you enjoyed :) **_


	2. Supermassive Black Hole

_**Thanks Mademise Morte, Harmony-Rose Temptation, They cant take all of me and Onyx Sprita for your reviews :)**_

_**The last chapter was Plug In Baby as China got electrocuted, so Mademise Morte was right :)**_

_**MuseGleek123 - Hey, thanks everybody for all your reviews and a special thanks to Reia who has been an amazing help :) I can't say when we're going to kill Valkyrie but it won't be for a while yet!**_

_**Reia - MuseGleek123 and I are writing this over MSN (well she's telling me ideas and I'm writing this down) so it's a wonder this story ever got chapters completed, what with us being distracted by Futurama and Family Guy while writing the first chapter ;) Plus she really needs to write longer single A/Ns, mine's like three times as long -.- Oh and yeah MuseGleek123 is awesome and shit. There amn't I nice?**_

Ghastly hummed a little song to himself as he wandered round his shop, clearing up evidence of the guy's wild night. He picked up a feather boa and winced. Anton had a lot of explaining to do. Skulduggery walked through the door, eyes glued on his phone. ''Ghastly, have you talked to China recently?'' The tailor looked up and shook his head. ''No, why?'' ''I've been trying to contact her all morning but she's not answering my calls. That's never happened before.'' Ghastly shrugged. ''Maybe she's busy stealing the heart - and wallet - of some helpless billionaire. Times are hard Skulduggery, the last time I saw her I think she was only wearing three pieces of priceless jewellrey.'' The skeleton chuckled at his friend. ''Probably, but I think I'll just go check. Catch you later, remember we're meeting with the girls and Fletcher for dinner.'' They bumped fists and Skulduggery left.

Ghastly checked his clock. _Half an hour to opening time, better hurry up. _He swept the floor quickly and started setting out his fabrics occasionally smiling as he found relics of last night including pictures of Thurid Guild doing a pretty badass YMCA dance. Ghastly finished up and glanced at his phone. _Should I do it? Maybe she'll say no. Of course she'll say no. She's gorgeous. But then again, what do I have to lose? I'll ask her out once and if she doesn't want to I'll accept it. _''Be cool Bespoke, be cool,'' he muttered as he picked up his phone and began to dial Tanith's number. A sudden crash startled him and Ghastly dropped the phone as he turned round. ''Hello? Finbar, if you're trying to sneak into my wardrobe again it isn't working.''

Nobody answered.

Ghastly clicked his fingers, summoning a flame, and walked over to his back room. ''Hello?'' he called again, warily. He felt something _shift_, and years of training moved him before his brain caught up with what he was doing. He came up from his roll, noticing the knife that had narrowly missed his head and searched with swift eyes for his attacker. There was a whip of black outside and Ghastly threw open his back door and rushed outside. He didn't have a back garden - his house was built in front of a sprawling forest. The tailor stopped, calming his breathing and listening for a clue. He heard or rather _felt _a shiver, a movement to his left and whirled round, throwing a ball of flame that narrowly missed a shadowy figure that had been an arm's length from him. The figure wheeled around and sped away through the trees as Ghastly scrambled after them.

Somehow the cloaked attacker gained on Ghastly, pulling ahead and leaving him scanning the forest. He shook his head and made to pull his phone out his pocket then realised he had left it in his house. ''Crap,'' he groaned, knowing it would take him at least half an hour to get back to his house and notify the Sanctuary. Ghastly took a step forward then felt a pair of strong hands shove him. He tipped forward, twisting as he fell, properly seeing for the first time the shadow that had pushed him. ''You,'' he gasped as he fell backwards, hitting not ground but falling through a concealed hole into blackness.

Ghastly's life didn't flash before his eyes as he fell. The _best _parts of his life did, however.

_Fletcher_

_Valkyrie_

_Skulduggery_

_Tanith Tanith Tanith_

Ghastly felt a rush of love and sadness go through him in the few short seconds as he fell, accompanying him into the dark.

And then Ghastly felt nothing at all.


End file.
